People – Southeast

Philadelphia Insurance Companies, a Bala Cynwyd, Penn.-based property/casualty and professional liability insurance company for niche markets, said that Robert O’Leary, Jr. has been named the new president and CEO of the company, effective immediately.

O’Leary has been with Philadelphia Insurance for 30 years and most recently served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

He succeeds Sean Sweeney, who became CEO in the beginning of 2013 but is stepping down and leaving the company for what the company said were persoanl reasons.

O’Leary’s insurance career began in 1977 as an industrial sales representative for American Mutual Insurance Co.. Five years later he joined Maguire Insurance Agency (the original marketing name of Philadelphia Insurance Companies) as a regional manager for the New England region. He was named regional vice president in 1986 and managed the Great Lakes area in addition to New England and New York.

In 2006, he was named senior vice president for the eastern territory, and two years later he was promoted to executive vice president of marketing. O’Leary assumed the role of executive vice president and chief marketing officer in January of 2012.

Sweeney has been with Philadelphia Insurance for more than 30 years. He started out as an account executive. In 1993, he helped take the company public with founder James J. Maguire, Sr. and was involved in the successful merger with Tokio Marine in 2008.

Aon plc recently announced the addition of Greg Whittle as vice president and middle market sales leader in the health and benefits practice in Atlanta. In his new role, Whittle is responsible for developing new business for organizations with 250 to 5,000 employees and increasing marketplace visibility in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.

Prior to joining Aon, he served as principal and health and welfare consultant at Buck Consultants.

Plantation, Florida-based wholesale insurance broker Bass Underwriters hired Bruce E. Bowers as senior vice president for personal lines. Bowers will be responsible for new product development and the launching of personal lines products on a nationwide basis. Particular emphasis will be placed on online, highly automated products.

Bowers is an insurance industry veteran with 30 years of experience. He was formerly with Hull & Co. and its online personal lines platform, National Risk Solutions. He is a past president of the Florida Surplus Lines Association.

Patriot National Insurance Group has named John Rearer as the president of the insurer’s subsidiary, Patriot Underwriters Inc. As president of Patriot Underwriters, Rearer will oversee Patriot National’s managing general agency, program administration and business process outsourcing.

Rearer previously served as Patriot National’s regional vice president for the western region after first joining the insurer in 2007. Prior to that he served as the vice president of Preferred Employers Group.

The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Patriot National operates Guarantee Insurance Co. and Patriot Underwriters.

Maritime Program Group recently appointed Shari Trefil as a senior broker based in Stuart, Florida.

Trefil brings with her 23 years of experience in the insurance industry, most of it in management of retail and wholesale recreational marine departments. As a senior broker, she will work with new and existing broker relationships to cross-sell Maritime Program Group’s products and to access markets for risks that fall outside the appetite of in-house programs.

Maritime Program Group is a program administrator providing marine insurance products and underwriting services to its broker network throughout the U.S. It has primary offices in Westbrook, Conn., and Manchester, N.H.

Topics Florida